water. but the way this has exploded on the web around the world has just been mind-blowing. i would say nothing compares to this. >> i know you've been getting a lot of phone calls. we appreciate you taking ours. bill bouton with stunning photos that are very much real. >> that's fantastic. >> got to love good pictures. chad, thank you. and thank you for watching. now let's go to washington to wolf blitzer. "the situation room" begins right now. brooke, thanks very much. happening now, the clock ticks inside the gop as republicans try to contain the surging political firestorm ignited by two words, legitimate rain. with a critical deadline only two hours away, can the party convince todd akin to drop out of a race they can't afford to lose? also, just days before the republican convention republicans approve a tough new platform against abortion with no exceptions for rain or incest. will it cause even more turmoil for the party?

i'll ask the republican chairman, reince priebus. paul ryan is getting ready to speak live. we're going to bring you some of that once it happens. and later, the vice president, joe biden, will be speaking live on the campaign trail a well. we'll go there live as well. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." todd akin resisting deafen calls to drop out of a key senate race in the wake of his explosive legitimate rain comments. he has since apologized for the remarks asking voters for

forgiveness in a new ad. it hasn't stopped the backlash. it's only intensifying. and republicans only have two hours left to change his mind. at that point getting out of the race becomes much more complicated. let's bring in our senior congressional correspondent dana bash. she's got the very latest. this is a fast-moving story, dana. the clock is ticking. >> the clock is ticking, but it's not pushing todd akin at all to step aside. he went op a friendly forum radio show, mike hhe made it cl he's not going anywhere. listen. >> it does seem misspoke one word and one sentence on one day, i hadn't done anything that was morally or ethically wrong as sometimes people in politics do. we do a lot of talking. and to get a word in the wrong place, you know, that's not a good thing to do or to hurt anybody that way. but it does seem like a little bit of an overreaction. >> so he's calling this an

overreaction. republicans across the spectrum, leaders here in washington, some real heavyweights in missouri today, the current republican senator from missouri, four former republican senators, they are really closing ranks even more than they did yesterday to say, get out. he's impervious to it. i just got an e-mail from somebody who was in touch with his campaign saying asking -- i asked whether or not in these two hours he'll voluntarily back out. the answer was probably not but we'll see what the days ahead hold. >> our chief national correspondent john king is here as well. and there's other breaking news on this front within these final two hours just coming in. >> as we came on the air a statement from the romney campaign. he said as i said yesterday, todd akin's comments were offensive and wrong and he should very seriously consider what course would be in the interest of our country. he added this, dana noted all the missouri republican heavyweights saying get out of the race. mitt romney added today his fellow missourians urged him to step aside. i think he should accept their

council. essentially the new leader of the republican party saying get out. he thinks it hurts the party's chances for the senate and thinks it could hurt his chances as well. >> that's a dramatic development. when you have mitt romney telling this republican senatorial candidate, it's over. you've got tea party leaders, conservatives, conservative radio talkshow hosts like rush limbaugh and others saying it's over. why is he resisting all of that? >> it's his way. this is somebody who the republican party didn't really want at all to be their nominee to run against claire in the first place. they thought others would be better and more able to be victorious. so he is somebody who has long been sort of resistant to the establishment. but i think it is important to underscore that it isn't just now mitt romney's who's being even more blunt or mitch mcconnell, wants to be majority leader also coming out to say he

believes sorry is not sufficient. this is not enough. he's got to step aside. it's tea party leaders. it's talk radio hosts. it is grass roots republicans on a national level saying that they are trying to take the long view. or the long view is if he's in, they don't get the senate seat, they don't get the majority probably in the senate. and what are we going to talk about going into the convention? >> this is the last thing the republicans want. it hurts their brand. and certainly days before the convention it hurts the romney ticket, if you will. you've been looking at this. >> mitt romney needs to talk about jobs, he needs to talk about the economy, the size and scope of the federal government. he needs to say president obama has had three and a half years going on four years and he's failed. instead, what are we talking about? why does this matter, wolf, there are a lot of suburban women pro-choice on abortion who probably agree with president obama more than mitt romney on issues like same sex marriage, but they are open to voting for less taxes and smaller government. let's look at some numbers. our most recent poll shows a dead heat among suburban women,

obama 48, romney 49. that's not good enough. mitt romney cannot win the presidency like that. go back in time and show you why. in 2008 john mccain actually carried suburban women nationally by four points, 51 to 47. and he lost in a blowout. look what you had to do. george bush carried them by 12 points nationally to win in 2004. look at two very important states. here's colorado. john mccain's win suburban women by 11 points in 2008. still loses the state. why? look what george bush did. he beat john kerry by 16 points. look at ohio where the president of the united states is today, perhaps the decisive state in this election, essentially a dead heat in the ultima swing state of suburban women, george w. bush wins by five points, he wins the state, he wins the presidency. this is normally in a 50/50 race like 2004 was, suburban women are the deciders. mitt romney has a problem. >> if he stubbornly stays in this after 6:00 p.m. eastern tonight, 5:00 p.m. central, dana, it becomes a lot more complex for the republicans.

>> it does become more complex. but those polling numbers are a great illustration of why republican sources i'm talking to say no matter what happens with this particular race, republicans were so swift to distance themselves from what akin said. wanted to make clear to suburban women and other independent voters, people still on the fence that this guy is an outlier. he doesn't speak for the republican party. doesn't speak for mitch mcconnell. and they don't support the things he was saying about rape and so forth. >> we've invited him to join us in the next two hours. see if he makes a call. if he wants to join us, he's more than welcome. get his last words before the 6:00 p.m. eastern deadline. thanks very much. we'll standby for breaking news. if it happens on that front. meanwhile, abortion is now center stage in the battle for the white house. only a week before the start -- less than a week i should say before the start of the republican convention republicans have just approved a tough new platform against the politically charged issue. and there are concerns there could be some fallout for mitt

romney. let's get the latest. our cnn political reporter, peter hamby first broke the story of the abortion platform stance. what is the latest on this sensitive subject, pete? >> reporter: you're right, wolf. the it's the only story coming out of tampa today. basically what's happening just a few feet from me is the republican platform committee is meeting. those are the folks charged with drafting where the party stands on a lot of hot button issues and some more tame issues. but in a case of unfortunate timing for the republican party it happened that today was the day they were going to talk about abortion and draft language for what the party stands for on abortion. this is what they approved in a meeting a little while ago here in tampa. among other things they said "we support a human life amendment to the constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the fourteenth amendment's

protections apply to unborn children." that's basically approving constitutional ban on abortion. and what's key here, what's missing, is any language about exceptions for rape, incest, the life of the mother. the romney cam paid has said if he becomes president, he would create an exception for abortion in cases of rape. so it runs a little bit counter, wolf, to what delegates here who represent the republican base have drafted into the party platform here in tampa, the same party that romney is going to be the official head of when he assumes the nomination next week, wolf. >> yeah, mitt romney's position as he does support exemptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. until recently, paul ryan, the vice presidential candidate only accepted exemptions for life of the mother. but now he's on board with what romney is saying, obviously, as the vice presidential candidate. this language, the final language that you just read, it's very similar if not identical to what was approved four and eight years ago, is

that right? >> reporter: yeah. exactly right. this is not new. in 2008 the language was strikingly similar to 2004 and 2000 basically going back to the '70s the republican party has called itself pro-life. again, what makes this different is it comes at the exact moment the republican party is grappling with the issue of abortion and doesn't want to be talking about this. they want to talk about education, welfare reform, jobs. like john king said, to appeal to those suburban swing female voters in places like richmond and denver and cleveland and right here in tampa, wolf. it's a case of unfortunate timing for them that this is staying in the headlines. >> certainly is. now, you're there with a lot of republicans already gathering in tampa for the convention. what has been the fallout in terms of word of mouth from the whole todd akin legitimate rape story? >> reporter: it's a lot of face palming here in tampa, wolf. every time you talk to a republican official or republican delegate here, it's a lot of grimacing and head

shaking. what you've been hearing out of officials in washington, it's basically similar. they think if todd akin stays in the senate race in missouri they will lose that race. and by extension probably lose a chance to take over the senate next year. i was just walking out here and went down an escalator, passed one republican delegate here who looked at me and said what's the headline. and i told them todd akin. it's all anybody here can talk about. but reince priebus, who you'll talk to a bit later, has warned todd akin to stay far, far away from tampa. this is not what they want to talk about next week, wolf. >> very quickly, what about the other big issues discussed as far as the platform committee is concerned? these are sensitive subjects as well. >> reporter: they are. what's interesting, wolf, the rnc, the republican national committee is sort of running this process. but the romney campaign top advisors from the romney campaign are in the room kind of massaging some of these more sensitive topics through. most things have sailed through without much debate, for

instance the abortion platform was only talked about for two minutes at most. however, one thing that jumped out at me was the debate over same sex marriage. one younger delegate, she said she was 31 years old, wanted to insert language that the republican party would endorse same sex civil unions. that sort of drew some groans from people in the audience and rejected soundly by a voice vote after a romney advisor, tony perkins, head of the family research council, leading social conservatives spoke out against anything even close to same sex civil union. so it appears the republican party won't go there and probably won't for a while, wolf. >> thanks very much. peter hamby in tampa. we'll head the whole team down later in the week. thank you. just ahead i'll ask the chairman of the republican party, reince priebus, about the latest efforts to get todd akin out of that missouri race. also, the vice president of the united states, joe biden, expected to take the stage at a rally just a little while from

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the fear over republican senate candidate todd akin's comments about rape and abortion this week certainly has been spilling over to the presidential campaign. both candidates are sensitive to how the issue may impact women voters, a group that some strategists believe may determine who wins the white house. >> this year really seems the year of the women. both candidates vying to win over female voters. president obama courting women for their vote in colorado. >> they want to take us back to the policies more suited to the

1950s than the 21st century. >> in new york addressing thousands of women bloggers. >> you women should have control over the decisions that affect your health, your lives, your careers. >> and in campaign ads. >> i think mitt romney's really out of touch with the average woman's health issues. >> democrats are tapping out a consistent drum beat that republicans are a bad choice for women. three words heard repeatedly, the so-called war on women. democrats point to rush limbaugh and comments he made about women's activist sandra fluke over the access to contraception. they highlight proposed gop funding cuts to planned parenthood and a call for a constitutional ban on abortion. and the outrageous statements of missouri republican senate candidate todd akin plays right into it. >> if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> you already have a lot of

women voters outraged at what the candidate's comments were. you already have a bunch of democrats basically saying they're not going to let voters forget about these comments. >> the women's vote matters. president obama is leading among registered female voters. according to exit polls, mr. obama had 56% of the women's vote in 2008. the romney campaign is firing back bringing out its strongest weapon in the fight for women's votes portraying the candidate as a loving, devoted family man. >> i will say that for me it's so comforting to know that mitt is always by my side and always sticks with me in the hardest times. >> republicans dismiss the talk of a war on women as pure campaign rhetoric. they say when voters go to the polls what they really care abo

about. >> they're concerned they don't have a lot of opportunities to be promoted or find other job opportunities. jobs, jobs, jobs. can't say it enough. women are just as concerned as men about the direction of the economy. >> so going forward we can expect a couple story lines ann romney to play a much more visible role on the campaign trail and expect democrats especially after the akin controversy to keep trying to win over women particularly focusing on those moderate, in the middle and independent women, wolf. lisa, thanks very much. let's go to congressman paul ryan right now. he's speaking live at a campaign stop in westchester, pennsylvania. >> next time you hear about president obama, tell him to keep his hands off medicare. next time you look at your paycheck, take a look at your payroll taxes. it's a helicopter museum, we're

going to have helicopters flying around. take a look at your payroll taxes. those are supposed to go to two programs, social security and medicare. and now because of the president they're being siphoned off to partially pay for obama care too. and we're going to stop that from happening. we're not just going to talk about how the other guys have failed. we're not just going to talk about the miserable record of failed leadership by president obama. we're going to offer you solutions. we're going to come together with ideas that get this economy growing and get us back on track. let me give you five right now. of all places, pennsylvania, marseilles shale. we have energy in this country. let's use the energy in this

country. [ cheers and applause ] all of it. coal, shale, oil, gas, knnuclea renewable, that creates jobs. that's one idea that gets people off the unemployment line and into good paying jobs like working on the keystone pipeline. [ cheers and applause ] and we've seen how people are hurting. we have seen how big manufacturers have left our towns. that's the experience in my hometown of janesville, wisconsin. so we need to have a system, good educational skills, job training benefits to help them get the skills they need to get back on their feet and back into a career in the 21st century. that's incredibly crucial to getting people back to work and back on their feet so they can realize their vision of the american dream.

[ applause ] we also need to make more things in america. we need to grow more things in america. and that means we need to have trade that works for america. so that we hold those countries that are not playing fairly with us to account, china comes to mind. but let's make sure that we get agreements that work for us so we can make more things and sell them overseas and create good jobs here. another area that is putting a huge drag on our economy, something i spent a lot of my time working on. and it's a really simple proposal. we got to stop spending money we just don't have. [ cheers and applause ] we have to cut spending. we've got to get this budget deficit under control, this debt

under control. not only is this debt crisis looming on our horizon, not only is our future on the current path one just like europe is having. it affects our jobs today, but it gives our children without a shadow of a doubt a diminished future. it lowers standard of living. my dad used to always tell me, in this country every generation, every generation fixes its problems so that its kids are better off. it's our duty to save the american dream for our children and their children. [ cheers and applause ] you know, you take a look at some of the things the president's been saying over the years and occasionally he drops his guard. he sort of lowers the veil and we sort of see what's going on in his mind. we see the philosophy of government that he has.

you remember joe the plumber? so this is about four years ago he said we needed to spread the wealth around. it's this belief that the economy is a fixed pie. that there's just only so much money and that it's the government's job to redistribute the slices as the government sees fit. that's not how the free economy works. that's not free enterprise. our job is to grow the pie so everybody can get a bigger slice of the pie. that's what growth and opportunity and upward mobility are all about. >> the republican vice presidential candidate paul ryan on the stump as you see him right there in westchester, pennsylvania. pennsylvania clearly an important battleground state. by the way, in our 6:00 p.m. eastern hour the vice president of the united states, joe biden, he'll be in a rally in minnesota. we're also going to go there live once he starts speaking. standby for that as well. we'll take a quick break. when we come back, the chairman of the republican party, reince priebus, he's already in tampa getting ready for the big republican convention that opens

up on monday. we'll speak with reince priebus right after this. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

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republican congressman todd akin is not only resisting calls to get out of a major senate race after his controversial comments about so-called legitimate rape. he's going one step further suggesting the backlash may be going overboard. listen. >> it does seem just -- misspoke

one word in one sentence on one day. i hadn't done anything that was morally or ethically wrong as sometimes people in politics do. we do a lot of talking. and to get a word in the wrong place, you know, that's not a good thing to do or to hurt anybody that way. but it does seem like a little bit of an overreaction. >> let's bring in the chairman of the republican national committee, reince priebus. he's joining us now live from tampa. reince, thanks very much for coming in. are you overreacting? because you want him to go away. >> i think he should step aside. i mean, here's the deal, the unique situation here though is not just somebody who said somebody that's biologically stupid, but something who said something at a time when we can actually replace him on the ticket in a real legal way that is going to be a stronger candidate than what todd akin is going to be. i mean, he's got no one to blame but himself. he's put himself in a weaker position. and we have a legal avenue now

that we can put someone in his place that's going to be stronger. i mean, that's what we're talking about. what he said is ridiculous and bizarre, but we have a chance to not continue down this pathway of having this major distraction in that senate seat. >> what specifically are you referring to when you say it was biologically ridiculous or stupid? what part of his comment is ridiculous? >> well, you know what i meant. everything. i mean, come on. everything. i mean, the idea that legitimate and rape could be together in the same sentence is a problem. and so there's no part of it that makes any sense. it doesn't fly with us in the republican party. doesn't fly with me. and i've taken it even a step further, wolf, and i've suggested that he ought to stay away from the national convention as well. >> because the part that was ridiculous and stupid more even than no exceptions for rape and incest, there are a lot of people who want to support --

who oppose abortion rights in any circumstance with the exception of life of the mother, for example. but the part that he suggested that the woman somehow has some sort of biological clock inside that if she is raped she could control whether or not she becomes pregnant, that was so stupid as far as every doctor i've discussed this over the past 24 hours with. that was ridiculous. >> right. >> to me that was even more ridiculous than the other part of the legitimate rape, if you will. >> well, both of it is crazy talk. but, i mean the fact of the matter is, you know, these types of things are beyond just mistakes. and i think we've been very clear as a party that if you're that off base, not just off message -- being off message is one thing. being completely, you know, in another world is another thing. and i just don't understand it. i'm not going to try to figure

it out anymore. the fact of the matter is we've got about an hour and a half to convince him that he ought to step aside and really put your country first and give someone an opportunity in this race that's going to have a better chance of winning. i think we can all agree that we can do that. we were fortunate in this particular senate race to have a lot of good candidates. i'm not saying that's the pool you'd have to choose from. but obviously steelman and bruiner, they were good candidates as well. we can win this seat and mr. akin can make it a lot easier for us and i think better for this country and the causes that we believe in if he would step aside and let someone else fill that hole. >> he may be watching you right now. walk us through what may happen in the next less than 90 minutes or so until that 6:00 p.m. eastern, 5:00 p.m. central, deadline occurs. mitt romney has said he should step aside, mitch mcconnell,

rush limbaugh, everyone seems to be on board including the tea party express, what can you do between now and 6:00 p.m. eastern? >> well, actually mitt romney did say just recently within the last hour that i will tell you that mr. akin ought to listen to the advice that we're giving him. the nominee of our party is being very clear. i will tell you, wolf, mitt romney led the charge. when mitt romney came out very strongly yesterday, we followed suit. and i think he showed a lot of leadership in doing this. what's happening now is i'm assuming many people are talking to him. and, you know, it is ultimately up to him. however, i hope that he understands and puts a few things together in his head that if we don't get this thing straight in the next hour and a half, he puts our party in a worse situation there in missouri. and we want to win that seat. and his comments are just over

the top and something that we're not going to stand around and just blow off. >> so if he stubbornly says, you know, the republican primary elected me, i'm going to listen to the people of missouri and he stays in this race, can he win? can he beat claire mckaskel. >> that will be pretty tough to do without any money. >> will the rnc suspend any campaign fund raising for him? >> yeah. i mean, we're not going to send any money toward that race or spend money on the ground in that particular race. we're obviously going to work very hard for a nominee in missouri up and down the ticket, congressional seats. but i've already called off the phone banks and all of the volunteers for congressman akin's race there. so it's up to him. he's got an hour and a half. and it's up to him. i think he ought to do the right thing for this country and get out of the race. but we'll see what happens.

but otherwise, no, we're not going to spend money in his race in missouri. >> and basically walk away from that race. well, what do you think? give me your ballpark guess right now. have you directly spoken to him? have you called him? do you plan on doing it in the next less than 90 minutes? >> well, yeah. i've left a message for him. i haven't talked to him, wolf. we have to hope he does the right thing and understands what's at stake and how his comments have affected this race. and really what's better for this country. and, you know, i heard the clips that he was -- these are comments that in multiple cases in that same phrase and sentence that he used that just don't make a whole lot of sense and really don't square with either the party. and i think the american people

at all. it's too off base, wolf, to sit around and allow this stuff to go on. >> yeah. a lot of people, i think everybody in your party agrees with you on this. claire on the other hand would like him to stay in this race. let's see what happens by 6:00 p.m. eastern. reince, if you can stay with us, i want to continue this conversation. prod it a little bit into the presidential race. i want to take a quick break. standby for a moment. you're in tampa. i know the clouds are getting a little ominous out there. but if you have a few minutes, i want to continue this conversation. is that all right with you? >> i don't know if i've got time for that, wolf. we're just stacked up and we came on late because you put on the great ryan comments who we love. i think it kind of backed us up. so, i'd be happy to come on another day. but i'm not sure we can just keep ongoing here. >> all right. well, that's fair enough. all right. we'll do it tomorrow or thursday or friday. we'll have you back. you're in tampa, right? >> it's fun. i can be on your show for ten

days here, wolf. we're okay. >> i'll be down there as of saturday myself. maybe we'll continue this conversation tomorrow. get inside. i know it's going to rain over there. you got a lot of other stuff going on. thanks very much. >> all right. thank you, wolf. there you go. there's the thunder. >> yeah, i can hear it. todd akin by the way is vowing to stay in this race for the senate. can he still win? will he drag down the whole republican party? we'll discuss those questions. that's coming up in our strategy session. ntgomery and abigail higgins had...

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let's get right to our strategy session. joining us, the democratic strategist and cnn political contributor hilary rosen and alex castellanos. reince priebus, did you see how tough he was on todd akin? he was very blunt saying if he stays in, no money is going to his campaign. >> what a great chairman reince priebus has turned out to be. what people hate about politics is all the milly mouth stuff. he just calls them like he sees them. i think the message was very clear. the only thing worse for the republican party than akin staying in this race is akin staying in and winning because he'd be a ball and chain around this republican party, the republican brand. he'd limit the number of people

we'd attract to the party. it's not who we are. if he cares at all about the causes he's fought for over the years turning this economy around, he would step down. >> this morning he released an ad he says he's going to put up on television in missouri. let me play a little clip for you. >> rape is an evil act. i used the wrong words in the wrong way. and for that i apologize. the fact is rape can lead to pregnancy. the truth is rape has many victims. the mistake i made was in the words i said not in the heart i hold. i ask for your forgiveness. >> so what do you think? is that going to sway voters in missouri? is that going to convince anyone that what he said was basically just a mistake, an honest mistake? >> here's what i think, i think all of this republican bashing of congressman akin when he holds exactly the same policy view, not what he said about that stupid thing about rape,

but he holds the same policy view. he's against abortion in the case of rape, in the case of incest, even when the mother's life is threatened as every republican on the platform committee just voted for yesterday. and mitt romney is going to the nominating convention to support. the idea that all of these people are saying that's not us, that we're different, we don't believe any of that, over 200 members of the house believe exactly the same thing he believes. >> but if he would have just said that, alex, if he would have just said what hilary just said, that would have been one thing. but then he goes onto say buy i don't imagine kal evidence that if a woman is rained she can't get pregnant and he used the phrase legitimate rape. that's obviously ridiculous. >> wolf, that's where i disagree with hilary. people for religious reasons may think it's a human life. if it's a human life, okay, you don't make -- you make the rapist pay. i would understand that, but that's not what he said. what akin said was that somehow

only women who welcome rape, the she really wants it crowd, they can't get pregnant. that's just a view that no one holds. he must have never been to biology class. that is what i think disqualifies him from this. >> but yesterday mitt romney all of a sudden said, well, ryan and i are now going to be for abortion in the case of rain. of course when he was running in the primary he said something different. paul ryan has always said something different. the republican platform says something different. the republicans will say anything they can to try and get away from this conversation -- >> oh, come on. on occasion even -- >> -- about the impact on women's lives and how women voters are going to reject men making these decisions whether they're ill-spoken or stupidly spoken or smartly spoken and simply clear but discriminatory. >> the next few days we're going to see how the republican party and the ticket handles this.

if they handle it with strength, if mitt romney continues to say what he's said which is this is unacceptable -- >> which time? >> -- you're interrupting. it's an old joke, wolf. if he handles it in strength, it can help him. he'll push off extreme in the party and push himself toward the middle. if he displays weakness, it could hurt especially with women voters. >> what do you think between now and 6:00 p.m. eastern? is he in or out? >> it looks like he's in, wolf. his deputy campaign manager, his wife, his sons, he's not getting good advice. >> every republican who would replace him would vote the exact same way he would. >> we'll see what happens, guys. we're counting down to 6:00 p.m. eastern. appreciate it very much. a deadly train derailment. what we're now learning about what happened and the two women who were killed. also, president obama mocks mitt romney when it comes to education. standby.

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let's quickly check some other top stories in "the situation room" right now. the plane that carried joint chiefs chairman general dempsey to afghanistan for an unannounced visit was hit by shrapnel today. a spokesman says dempsey was in his room at the time of the incident and "not in any danger." he says two maintenance personnel were slightly wounded. ecuador's president is lashing out at british authorities over suggestions they may enter the ecuadoran embassy in london to arrest wikileaks founder julian assange. the ecuador leader says that would be in his words suicidal. the comments come after a letter

from the british foreign office cited a little known law that could suspend the embassy's diplomatic protection. assange is taking refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to sweden over sex crime allegations. sales of the racy "50 shades of grey" trilogy helped the country's largest bookstore chain boost its bottom line and beat wall street expectations in the second quarter. sales at barnes & noble says it clearly had an impact on numbers. another story we're following, a deadly train derailment. what we're now learning about what happened and the two young women who were killed. [ male announcer ] citi turns 200 this year. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you?

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our horrific train derailment not far from washington, d.c. our own brian todd is getting some dramatic new information about the two young women who died. brian is joining us now live. what's going on over there? what happened, brian? >> reporter: wolf, this is the scene of the derailment. they just turned this car not right side up but removed it from the track. it's upside down. they're in the process of turning some of these cars right side up. total of 20 cars derailed from an 80-some-car train. over here most of those were carrying coal. we have new information about this derailment and the two young ladies who died. they're identified as 19 years old from ellicott city. one elizabeth nass and rose

mayr. according to howard county police, the information we're getting here is that both of them were sitting on a ledge on a bridge on a tressel bridge just over there over my left shoulder facing that direction, facing away from the tracks. just after midnight the train apparently crossed just behind -- a few feet behind them with their backs to the train. this is according to the howard county police. at that point, and police say this is an unknown reason, the train derailed and several just huge volume of coal dumped from the train. and that's how these young ladies were killed. they were hit with coal that dumped from the train. now, what is not clear at this point is whether the presence of the two young women on the ledge on that bridge right by that track just a few feet away from it whether the presence of the two young women actually caused the derailment. the ntsb investigator on the scene, jim southworth, could not answer that question a few minutes ago. here's what he did have to say. >> we're looking into the maintenance of the tracks, the

maintenance of the equipment, the maintenance of the locomotives, everything you can think of. >> reporter: now, a couple of clues that we may be getting as far as timelines and other things, there were tweets that we strongly believe these young ladies sent out right before the accident. one of them just had the word lev tating by a picture. you can see a road underneath the two pairs of feet dangling. that is from the young lady who we believe is rose mayr. that's a tweet we believe is from her. another tweet around the same time, looking down on old e.c., meaning ellicott city. and another tweet we believe from rose mayr, drinking on top of ellicott city sign. i've been asking people if that sign is on the other side of

that bridge facing ellicott city that way, maybe where the young ladies were sitting. not clear from investigators on the scene. and we are now not allow today get anywhere near that sign. the scene of the investigation, wolf, just over my left shoulder here just beyond these overturned cars. >> i know you're on the scene and you'll be joining us again in our 6:00 p.m. eastern hour with more information, brian. thanks very much. other news we're following including a tropical depression that's moving across the atlantic right now. could pose a threat to the west coast of florida next week. does the republican national committee have contingency plans for the tampa convention? [ male announcer ] it's a golden opportunity to experience the ultimate expression of power... control. [ engine revs ] during the golden opportunity sales event, get great values on some of our newest models. this is the pursuit of perfection.

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battleground state, president obama slams mitt romney and says republicans would put college out of reach for millions. with republicans already rocked by the incendiary comments on rape, controversy is brewing before next week's convention. we'll take you to tampa. and smaller seats, less leg room for airlines. it's all about the bottom line. and that means travelers are feeling the pinch. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." it's back to school season and president obama today used that theme to hammer republicans on education and again paint mitt romney as simply an

out-of-touch rich guy. atheen na jones is traveling with president obama today. she's joining us from columbus, ohio. what happened today, athena? >> reporter: this is a state that can expect to see a lot of him over the next 11 weeks. speaking here on this college campus he blasted his republican opponents for plans he said would cut education funding and hurt the middle class. >> it is good to be back in columbus. >> reporter: in the critical state of ohio tuesday, the focus was on education. >> i'm only standing before you because of the chance that my education gave me. >> reporter: president obama slammed his gop rivals accusing them of wanting to slash spending on education by nearly 20% and put college out of reach for millions. his take on mitt romney's advice for college students sparking jeers. >> governor romney said if you want to be successful, if you want to go to college or start a

business, you can just -- and i'm quoting here "borrow money if you have to from your parents." >> reporter: that message echoed in a new dnc video. >> i was curious if elected what you would do with regards to college tuition. whether making it easier for me and my classmates. >> the best thing i can do for you is tell you to shop around. >> reporter: and in a radio ad hitting the air waves here. >> larger class sizes, fewer teachers in the classroom, less money for technology to help our kids learn and ryan us budget could cut pell grants for up to 56,000 students. >> reporter: the romney campaign says education is a top priority. in a statement put out before the speech said "under president obama the costs of college have skyrocketed making it more difficult for students to attend college. and his economic policies have made it harder for graduates to get jobs."

it's the kind of kitchen table issue the white house believes could win them in the fall. young voters went overwhelmingly for obama in 2008. a feat his campaign wants to repeat. something he made clear on the stump. >> young people especially i'm going to need your help. >> reporter: and off. >> you going to vote? make sure you do. >> reporter: the president is headed next to nevada where he'll speak at two more schools. he's also scheduled to sit down today with b.e.t. and "time" magazine for interviews. >> we'll see what he says in those interviews. athena jones in ohio. both presidential candidates are opening up about their faith with extraordinary new revelations and an unlikely source. brianna keilar will have a report on that in a moment. let's bring in ron brownstein,

we know the economy is issue number one. there's no doubt about that. how much does religion though play on the minds of potential voters out there? >> quite a bit. religion has become -- religious practice rather than religious denomination has become an important dividing line in american politics. we know in good times or bad whether the candidates are stressing social issues or not, culture shapes voting preference as much if not more than class in modern american politics. separate minority voters for a minute who vote overwhelmingly democratic regardless. if you look at white voters, the single best predictor many strategists would argue of how people vote is how often they attend church. the more often they attend church, more likely they are to vote republican. last elections two-thirds of whites attend church regularly voted republican. about three fifths of whites who don't haven't. this is a powerful practice around the old structure. >> how does the republican congressman todd akin's comments

about "legitimate rape" play into all of this? >> i think what you have for president obama one of the pillars of strength for him in this very difficult year has been the fact that he's holding support among college educated white women. white collar white women who tend to be the most socially liberal part of that white electorate. he's polling about the same level in 2008 or even higher in key states today. and one of the reasons for that, probably the key reason for that is the dispute and debate over social issues like contraception earlier in the year. mitt romney's been very firm in condemning congressman akin's remarks, but i think the likelihood is if he stays in the race, this does seep in and kind of reinforce that cultural gap between the republican ticket and some of those more upscale women who have become a pillar of the democratic coalition. >> i want you to listen to what vice president joe biden said today on medicare. also what paul ryan, the republican vice presidential candidate, said today as well. listen to this.

>> what's bold about gutting medicare and education and research and development in order to pay for that tax cut? and most of all, ladies and gentlemen, what's new? what is new about their plan? it's not only not new, it's not fair, it's not right, and the people who pay the price for their new plan are the middle class and working poor. >> nearly one out of six hospitals and nursing homes are going to go out of business or just stop taking medicare patients because you know why? president obama treated medicare like a piggy bank to fund obama care and his campaign calls that an achievement. do you think that's an achievement? >> ryan's in pennsylvania. biden is in minnesota. but who's the target audience when they're speaking about medicare? >> you know, i could be wrong about this, but i don't think seniors in the end are going to be the decisive audience for this argument about the ryan budget and medicare. the white seniors in particular have become increasingly

problematic for democrats. in 2010 they ran hard against the ryan budget and still 63% of white voters voted republican. i think it's more working class women. we talked about the upscale women moving largely on social issues towards obama. those working class white women lean republican usually. they've been drifting back toward obama this summer largely around the bain attacks. and those are women in the sandwich generation paying for both their kids and their parents. and they are hostile to big government. they don't like a lot of transfer programs. but by and large very skeptical about changing medicare. that could be the place where ryan ultimately has to defend or see dangerous losses for the romney ticket. >> so the women vote for both of these candidates. but for romney it could be decisive. >> look, romney is doing very well among men, white men especially as every republican nominee has done really over the last 30 years. ryan i think helps with men, the kind of man with a plan image i think is an attractive to both blue collar and white collar men. the challenge is the women.

the upscale women as i said mostly on social issues hanging with the president very strongly. the more malleable constituencies are the working class women. romney was doing very well with them earlier in the year. both sides say the key movement in the race this summer has been some of those women moving back toward obama. and the ryan budget gives obama another opening with them that he would not have had. that's where i think ultimately they're going to have to defend it most aggressively. >> ron, as usual, thanks very much. let's turn to the role of religion in this campaign in the words of the candidates themselves. this is an important issue that ron was just talking about. but our white house correspondent, brianna keilar, she's here in "the situation room." she's been taking a closer look, two interviews with a religious publication today. shed some light for us. >> that's right. it was sort of a written interview. these were questions they submitted the answers to in writing. both president obama and mitt romney. and this is really an issue, religion, that has so many potential pitfalls politically

for both of these candidates. the thing is they both agreed to talk to this publication about religion, a publication you probably never heard of. "cathedral age" put out by the cathedral in washington, d.c. with a circulation of just 25,000 nabbed quite the get. president obama and governor mitt romney talking about their religious believes. you're not a very big publication. >> no. we're not. but we are a trusted institution. and i think that's the difference. >> reporter: the national cathedral has served a public role in politics, the site of inauguration prayer services and many state funerals. president bush visited the church after 9/11. its magazine published the candidates' written answers to eight questions including one about the sincerity of their christian faith. president obama said "you know, there's not much i can do about it. i have a job to do as president and that does not involve

convincing folks that my faith in jesus is legitimate and real." polls show many voters still believe obama is muslim. and many americans also know little about mitt romney's mormon faith or question if it's really christianity. romney emphasized his belief in jesus christ. "every religion has its own unique doctrines and history. these should not be bases for criticism but rather a test of our tolerance." romney's church that did not allow people of color to be priests until 1978 talked about his family's acceptance of all races. he says "i was taught in my home to honor god and love my neighbor. my father committed to martin luther king jr. cause of equality and i saw my parents provide compassion and care to others. president obama saying first and foremost my christian faith gives me a perspective and

security that i don't think i would have otherwise. that i am loved. that at the end of the day god is in control. cautiously chosen words on the politically touchy subject of religion. >> it has a volatility in this campaign. they have been very wary about approaching it so they're being careful. >> now, both president obama and governor romney were also asked about their favorite bible verses. and the ones they chose are pretty much in the mainstream. but it's fascinating wolf, i asked our belief blog editors and they kind of hue very closely to their cam page message. if you look at mitt romney, he chose matthew 25:and 36. this is read sort of as it's the faithful's role to take care of the poor and needy, maybe not necessarily government. and that's sort of part of his campaign message. and then you look at what president obama chose, he chose isaia 40:30 but those who hope

in the lord will renew their strength. they will soar on wings like eagles. they will walk and not be faint. this is kind of optimistic and forward looking. and that's very much a theme that he talks about on the campaign trail. >> in this magazine "cathedral age" i read those interviews. you can't help but see both of these men as religious. >> yeah. and they talk about how it really informs not just their personal lives but also their professional lives and really how it's something that i think they connect to a lot of voters on. >> certainly does. last weekend they were both in church last sunday. >> that's right. both of them. >> and romney allowed -- romney campaign allowed a camera to go into the mormon church and watch that service. there were reports out of that. the president went to church with his family as well. good report. >> thank you, wolf. >> you'll be with me in the 6:00 p.m. eastern hour. >> see you then. mitt romney and fellow republicans are keeping respective todd akin at arm's length. will running mate paul ryan's

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several people killed in syria today. heavy shelling of a damascus suburb. a japanese reporter killed during a gun battle in aleppo. she's one of at least 20 journalists said to have died during the conflict. meantime, the syrian government is reportedly insisting today that the resignation of president bashar al assad is not -- repeat, not, an acceptable condition for

dialogue with the opposition. outspoken about human rights in recent years, syria's first lady isn't speaking at all these days. ivan watson has details from istanbul. >> reporter: she stood smiling by her man as he cast his ballot last february in a constitutional referendum held amid a backdrop of escalating violence. she remains silent about the mounting death toll even though it wasn't long ago that the first lady of syria declared herself a vocal defender of human rights. >> this is a conflict that's been going on for too long. we have a choice. we can sit by and watch our tv screens and watch the atrocities and see some really horrific images, or we can get up and do something about it. >> reporter: asma al assad issued that call to action in a 2009 interview with cnn. during the the three-week israeli bombardment of gaza that

left more than 1,300 palestinians dead. a vigorous israeli response to months of palestinian rocket attacks. >> nobody is immune from what's happening. we've heard of women, children being killed. medics, journalists, it seems like it affects everyone. >> reporter: the trouble is for most of the last year and a half syrian security forces have been documented committing horrific abuses against syrian citizens. this month cnn reported war planes repeatedly bombing aleppo. syria's largest city. cnn witnessed a hospital targeted twice by war planes on the same day. and last week the organization human rights watch documented the aftermath of more syrian government air strikes against azaz. at least 40 people were killed.

[ speaking in a foreign language ] . >> reporter: government artillery routinely pounds towns and villages like this town we visited last month. we feel defeated by the shelling this young resident told us. these are children. what have they done to deserve this? >> where is human dignity? where are the human rights we all talk about? >> reporter: these are questions asma al assad asked in 2009 when she joined the wife of the prime minister of turkey and painting on behalf of civilians in gaza. but they are not questions asma al assad asks today. after more than 17,000 syrians have been killed throughout the uprising. much to the surprise of a woman who considered asma al assad as her friends.

i personally thought asma would never accept these events. i can't believe she has remained silent ability all this. >> what do you do in the position that you hold regardless of how senior you are or how influential you are, what is it you are going to be doing? now, as a mother and as a human being we need to make sure that these atrocities stop. >> reporter: inspiring words that today ring deafeningly hollow. ivan watson, cnn, is stan bull. the other news we're following including west nile virus has claimed another victim in texas. now they're signing up for a controversial weapon in their fight against mosquitos. and the 50 richest lawmakers are named. is your representative at the top of the list? ♪

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the west nile virus has claimed another victim in hard-hit texas. lisa sylvester's monitoring that and some other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what's the latest, lisa? >> wolf, dallas county officials announced today that an eleventh person has died from the mosquito born virus. there have been more than 250 cases in dallas county alone. a growing number of cities are signing up to have insecticide sprayed. this year's outbreak is one of the worst since the virus in 1999. and online threats that sparked

panic across the country. thousands fled cities across india last week after getting messages that threaten ethnic violence. an indian government official is blaming elements based in pakistan. india has blocked mass messaging and hundreds of web paging from posting harmful content. and diana nyad was in the water for more than 41 hours and about half way through on her trip from cuba to florida. she was stung by jelly fish. it was actually her fourth try at the 103-mile swim. she is still the world record holder for the longest swim, 102.5 miles. and anand naidoo yul list of the 50 richest lawmakers is out today. some of your representatives are doing quite when he will. the analysis by the hill a political news site shows republican representative michael mccall of texas topping the list at more than $290 million. democratic senator john kerry of massachusetts, he comes in

second. 31 of the 50 wealthiest members are republican. so they are doing quite well. look at that $290 million and $198 is john kerry. they're certainly bringing in a lot of dough. >> i wonder if they'll put out a list of the 50 poorest representatives in washington. i would be interested in that one as well. >> yeah. there are some members of congress that they're doing this that certainly didn't come to washington to make a whole lot of money. they're doing this because they have a sense of public service. that would be an interesting list to see, wolf. >> we know they make about $200,000 a year. >> yeah. >> so they're not too poor to begin with. >> right. >> at least they've got a good salary. thank you, lisa. thank you very much. the romney campaign has distanced itself from senate hopeful todd akin. but is paul ryan, his colleague in the house, too close to the republican at the center of this firestorm? and could tampa be hit by a hurricane during the convention next week? that's just a nightmare scenario right now.

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hurt him? here's cnn's tom foreman. >> reporter: as soon as paul ryan was picked, democrats hit hard on women's rights. a laundry list of complaints about the wisconsin congressman popped up on the president's re-election website. and this white house attack ad went white hot. >> in congress ryan voted to ban all federal funding for planned parenthood and allow employers to deny women access to cancer screenings and birth control. and both romney and ryan back proposals to outlaw abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. >> reporter: the ad exaggerates some of those claims while romney's position on abortion rights has been a moving target, he is supported them in the case of rape or incest. ryan's record shows support for abortion only when the mother is in danger. and he's also pushed legislation to restrict taking cells from human embryos for stem cell research to define each fetus as a person. the so-called personhood amendment.

argued that unborn children are being treated as subhuman, like slaves once were. and he enfuruated some human rights groups that used the tomorrow forcible rape, as if there could be any other kind. the wording was later changed complicating that matter further, another response sor of that legislation was none other than the man now at the center of the controversy, todd akin. still, republicans clearly do not see ryan as a liability. >> we need the women to step to the plate to put the romney/ryan team over the top. are you with me? >> reporter: indeed they're selling him as a small town family man unafraid to take on tough issues like the deficit, entitlement program, joblessness. they point out polls show the economy remains the biggest concern for men and women alike. >> i go to washington four days a week, which i call the silly place. it's kind of two different

worlds. if we don't tackle these big problems u they're going to tackle us. >> reporter: and republicans say there is this. while ryan may have some trouble with women, so does the president who is currently winning the female vote, but by a much smaller margin than he did in 2009. tom foreman, cnn, washington. the republican national committee has contingency plans if, if a storm slams into tampa next week. let's turn to our severe weather expert, chad myers. he's watching what's going on. what's the prospect of that happening? what's going on, chad? >> well, there's certainly no way i can rule it out now that we have isaac in the water. here's puerto rico, u.s. virgin islands, the leeward and winward islands. the storm is still well off to the east, but it has a lot of warm water to take in. the warmer the water is, the stronger the storms can get. here's the official forecast. let me tell you about the forecast how it could turn to the right and miss the u.s. altogether. how it could stay to the left

and miss the u.s. altogether. and then we look at the middle to see what the most likely scenario where most of the computer models are talking about. so to say that the storm is going to hit tampa next week is kind of a good analogy. it's like trying to tell you that the president will or won't win by exit polling or polls that are a week away. these are literally -- these models are like polls. the polls can be wrong. they go left and right. what the forecast is is if pull it in the middle, a bad storm for port-a-prince. and then guantanamo bay and cuba. that sounds like a bad thing for those places there, but it's a good thing for the u.s., good/bad, but when you have a storm over land or gulping in dry air near land, it won't get bigger. it will stay small. if it happens to stay away from all those islands, get into the gulf of mexico and do a big turn like it could, that would take a week at least for that to happen, that would be a much

more potentially dangerous storm for tampa that way. of course it could go to brownsville. it could miss altogether. this is all said and done. we're talking about five to seven days away. the computers go all the way from bermuda all the way down here well south -- that's the grand cayman islands right there. as you get farther and farther away, the computers begin to obviously differ in their agreement where this is going to go. >> i know people in tampa are worried about it as they should be. and there's contingency plans for the republican convention. but why would this be of such specific concern for the convention, tampa? tell us about that? >> well, what you have in tampa is you have a basin that can fill up with water. and you talk about mcdill air force base, the convention center where the port ships come in, the cruise ships, like the carnival cruise ships, that's where they dock. they would fill all up with water and at 10,000 to 15,000 feet it would bein undated. you know the people of tampa can

get away, but you don't want to put 50,000 more people in the way that have to eventually get in the way. it's the whole, don't want to put more people in harm's way than you have to. that's why this is going to be touch and go through the weekend. and the contingency plans have always been there because they knew it's hurricane season, it's tampa, what do we do if this happens? they're there and they will continue to watch it as well. >> i'll head there myself this weekend to get ready for the convention. we'll stay obviously in close touch with you, chad. thank you so much. the violence raging in syria is spreading. we're going to lebanon where children playing with bb guns turned into violent clashes. standby. and he was a fixture on television for years. but took a step out of the spotlight to fight parkinson's disease. now michael j. fox is back. e who dreamed she could fly. like others who braved the sky before her, it took a mighty machine, and plain old ingenuity to go where no fifth grader had gone before. ♪ and she flew and she flew,

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while the civil war rages in syria, tensions between rival communities are spilling over next door. cnn's arwa damon gives us a closer look from tripoli in lebanon. >> reporter: this is just one of the ways the syrian uprising is manifesting itself in lebanon along a sunni sectarian front line in the northern city of tripo tripoli. with the lebanese army trying to pound both sides into submission. some residents choose to move to safer ground. others hang around nervously in doorways now living on the lower floors. we spent our night under gunfire. we had to eat in the stairway, this woman says, referring to the holiday at the end of the holy month of ramadan. many admit they don't know how the fighting starts or how it

ends. but what they do know is events in syria are aggravating long-standing tensions between these communities. there have been numerous holes smashed into the walls between buildings here just like this one. but this is not a recent development. these neighborhoods have been preparing themselves for battle for years now. some shops are open, not for business but for safe passage. we're in the sunni neighborhood separated from the alawite area in the hills. dividing the two is the appropriately named syria street. this is as close to the front line as we can get. people are having to dart across this one road because right around the corner is syria street. and that is where these clashes are being concentrated. it's not the first time these two sides have clashed. each time sparked by different events. in this case both agreed that it was children playing with bb guns, a scenario that somehow

escalated into this. both blame each other. and this time residents fear it's going to last. this woman says a shell just slammed into their bedroom right on the front line. and they're going to hunker down with relatives nearby. no one was hurt, but it was clearly time to go. these makeshift very crude routes are also how families are evacuating. the gunmen say they are hardly firing back. the other side claims they are showing restraint as well. with gunfire echoing through the narrow streets, it's hard to determine where it's coming from. they're telling us to be careful of the opening right there as we move up towards one of the fighting positions. the sunni gunmen says they're armed by the syrian regime. it's clear where loyalties lie.

the syrian opposition flag is painted on a store front. a poster on the wall of four people from the area killed in clashes since the syrian uprising began. amidst fears that yet another generation will grow up to the sounds and brutal lessons of war. arwa damon, cnn, tripoli, lebanon. bottom line as airlines look to cut costs, you can look for less leg room. and minutes away right now from a deadline the embattled u.s. congressman todd akin. he's still defying calls from top republicans for him to withdraw from the senate race. you know, ronny... folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. and how happy are they jimmy? i'd say happier than a bodybuilder directing traffic. he does look happy. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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comfortable probably is the

word that comes to mind when you think about coach seats on a plane. but do some new seats mean more space for you or money for the airline? sandra endo has been taking a closer look into this. sandra, what are you finding? >> reporter: well, it will likely get even tighter on airplanes, wolf. this is the space each seat gets. i'm not tall. if you minus my thigh and cushion, there's very little room left before hitting the seat in front. airlines and travelers are feeling the squeeze. >> it's getting a little tight for everyone. >> reporter: but in different ways. for passengers. >> they're getting more and more compact with the space. definitely more people on make us all in there feel like as they say cattle car. >> reporter: for airlines it's their bottom line. many carriers are starting to use new thinner seats to pack more people onto planes. >> passengers are not willing to pay the true cost of air fair.

and airlines have no other option but to squeeze more passengers into their aircraft into economy class. that's what they're using these similar seats for. they're able to add an additional row of seats in economy. >> reporter: more rows equal more dollars. the average seat pitch, which is the distance between one point on a seat to the same point in front is around 30 to 32 inches on most major airlines. southwest is shrinking their seat pitch an inch. but they say a new slimmer seat design actually gives passengers more space. spirit has been using lighter weight seats they say are pre-reclined and can't be adjusted since 2010. but comfort is key especially for longer flights. >> i'm going to las vegas, so, yeah, it's a long flight. absolutely uncomfortable. gets cramped. my legs start burning. >> reporter: for people sick of airports or air travel, the train is always another option. here in an amtrak the seat pitch

is about 40 inches. in a car there are many factors, but with the front seat pulled back the seat pitch is about 32 inches. and things are about the same here in the white house seating room. on planes the other dreaded factor, the randomness of the seating your worst fear, someoe big sitting next to you? >> well, i have to admit, i don't like it because it's hard to stay off of one another, you know? and nobody wants somebody they don't know all over them, so, you know, it's tough. >> reporter: way to get extra space when you fly, you'll have to pay for it. many airlines have special rows of premium seating with extra leg room. wolf? >> sandy, thanks very much for that report. other news, the actor michael j. fox is returning to tv to start a new comedy series with a rather personal twist. the "family ties" alum who's been publicly battling

parkinson's disease will play a character with the disease. cnn entertainment correspondent kareen wynter is joining us now with more. what's going on here, kareen? >> reporter: hi there, wolf, big news for michael j. fox. fox has maintained a career, we all know this, in television with guest roles over the last decade. now, wolf, he's ready to take on an even heavier workload. >> i knew it would come in handy. >> reporter: michael j. fox has been getting the laughs on television since his scene stealing role of alex on the hit "family ties." he went on to star on the big screen in the "back to the future" series and other films before returning to tv in 1996 on "spin city." what viewers didn't know was away from the camera, fox had been battling parkinson's since 1991, a disease which impacts the central nervous system and motor skills. as his symptoms increased, fox announced plans to scale back his acting in twh2000 and starta

foundation which works to advance a parkinson's cure. >> the war against parkinson's is a winnable war. >> reporter: fox has become a vocal research activist, he's also continued acting with smaller roles on shows like "the good wife." now fox is taking on perhaps his biggest role yet, announcing plans to star in a new nbc sitcom, based on his experience as a father living with parkinson's. >> nbc's saying not only do we think you can lead this show, not only do we think people will want to see this show about parkinson's, we know people will tune in for you and we know that so much so we will give you a full season, sight unseen. >> reporter: maggie furlong says fox's new show will undoubtedly entertain along with educate viewers about life with parkinson's. >> it's not going to look anything like a traditional sitcom. i really feel like they're trying to push the envelope and i feel like the parkinson's story line is going to ease into that naturally which will be nice for viewers to not be hit

over the head with a message but part of the story. >> reporter: as for how fox will handle his disease with an increased workload, in a recent interview with cnn, fox says it's gotten easier to manage his symptoms over the year. >> i'm really fulfilled, and 20 years on, i'm doing a lot better than i ever thought i would be doing. >> reporter: fox will start filming his new show this year for fall 2013 premiere. in the meantime, his fans can look forward to new laughs with a familiar face. and, wolf, fox said in a statement that, you know, he's up for the challenge. he's ready for all the work that lies ahead and just excited to be back with nbc and we're excited to see this talented star back in action. i'm sure his fans were just thrilled. >> i really admire him. he's really done important work for parkinson's research. and good for him. i'll be anxious to see the new show. thanks very much, kareen, for that report. we're learning more about the deadly train derailment outside baltimore. in our next hour, we'll have more on the two young victims. where they were, what they were doing, in the moments before the

accident. and we'll head to minnesota. that's where the vice president joe biden is about to take to the microphone. what will he say? stand by.

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a south korean rapper is a global internet sensation because of his unique moves. his latest video has now gone viral, collecting, get this, more than 44 million views on youtube. here's cnn's paula hancock. >> reporter: uncool just became cool. this dance by korean rapper, c where, is the reason why.

there's a saying in korea, he says, let's ride a horse means let's have a drink and have some fun. hence the dance. psy, short for psycho, is a slight departure from korea's ultra groomed music. ♪ "i think foreigners think i'm funny," he says, "the way people think austin powers is funny." his hit song refers to this affluent neighborhood, the beverly hills of seoul and filled with expensive brands and trendy people. usually associated with a more moody chiseled look, psy has turned the idea on its head. "i'm crazy about music" he

says," "crazy about the stage, crazy about performing and crazy about my fans." he has plenty. 20,000 fans showed up last week to see him in all his greekeeky glory. it took one song to send psy into stardom. what better way to burn calories? some seoul gyms are using psy to work out. "i'm a very bad dancer," this woman says "but this dance is easy. also it makes me work out and sweat a lot and i'm smiling all the way through." ♪ and in case you thought this dance was psy's only skill, he adds -- "just so you know, i can dance to beyonce's song "single ladies" just like beyonce." impersonation of lady gaga and

her hit "poker face." uncanny. paula hancocks, cnn, seoul. happening now, embattled republican defies his own party leaders. congressman todd akin says he won't quit the race for senate. also we go to israel, the seat of another congressman's now knnotorious nude dip in a sacred sea. and a massive train derailment. the bizarre deaths of two teenage girls. ais i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." things just got a lot more complicated for republicans trying to put out the political firestorm sparked by the party's u.s. senate nominee. congressman todd akin of missouri. the chorus of calls for him to quit the race over a controversial abortion remark grew even louder today, but the deadline for an easy withdrawal just passed right at the top of the hour and now it will take a court order for him to withdraw.

something he vows he will not do. cnn's senior congressional correspondent dana bash and our national political correspondent jim acosta are both working the story for us. a lot of late breaking developments. let's start with you, dana. what is the latest? >> the latest is todd akin, of course, a six term house member, known in congress as kind of a loner, especially among members of his own delegation in missouri, saying that he's not going anywhere. effectively telling house republicans, senate republicans and republicans across the country to take a hike. todd akin chose one of the few friendly forums left. mike huckabee's radio show. to announce he's not going anywhere. >> we're going to continue with this race for the u.s. senate. we've given it a lot of thought, and the first thing we felt we had to do was we had offended some people, and we tried to respond to that and let people know that we didn't mean anybody, or to take in any way

rape anything less than very, very seriously. >> reporter: he insisted he simply misspoke and did nothing morally or ethically wrong. >> we do a lot of talking, and to get a word in the wrong place, you know, that's not a good thing to do or to hurt anybody that way. it does seem like a little bit of an overreaction. >> reporter: overreaction or not, republicans have been stunningly swift in closing ranks to push akin to drop out after he said this on sunday. >> from what i understand from doctors, it's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> reporter: since then, he has repeatedly apologized, even releasing this tv ad before dawn asking for forgiveness. >> rape is an evil act. i used the wrong words in the wrong way and for that, i apologize. i have a compassionate heart for the victims of sexual assault, and i pray for them. the fact is, rape can lead to pregnancy. the truth is, rape has many victims. >> reporter: that did nothing to sway frustrated and panicked

republicans from washington to akin's home state of missouri. five missouri republic cab can heavy vaweights joined togethero call akin's comments unacceptable, saying "we do not believe it serves the national interest for congressman todd akin to say in this race. the issues at stake are too big and this election is simply too important. the right decision is to step aside." from the tea party -- >> what he said is completely indefensible, and it changes the narrative of what's going on here. if he looks at the bigger picture, he will do what's best and he'll step aside. >> reporter: -- to talk show hosts -- >> personally, i think it can be harmful to the whole party. to the whole state. to the whole idea of capturing the senate. to the whole idea of mitt romney doing well in a state he has to win. >> reporter: what's even more telling is the most vocal advocate for akin staying in the race is the democrat he's trying to unseat. >> congressman akin and i disagree on some things, but he is sincere, and i think what's

startling to me is that these party big whigs are coming down on him and saying that he needs to kick sand in the face of the republican primary voters. >> now, republican leaders are not taking no for an answer, especially the senate's top republican mitch mcconnell, he's now the minority leader but really wants to be the majority leader in senate. he clearly believes akin will now likely lose and cost republicans control of the senate. mcconnell released a blunt statement reiterating his call for akin to quit the race saying, quote, sorry is not enough. now, wolf, to be sure, gop leaders didn't want the highly conservative akin to be their candidate in the first place in this race. the reality is akin was elected in missouri fair and square. the fact he's impervious to this pressure, there's not much republic cab can leleaders can

other than keep pressing him. >> i want to bring in our correspondent jim acosta working this story for us as well. jim, the uproar comes at a time when republicans would like to focus in on the economy and other issues as opposed to abortion. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. this fire storm ignited by todd akin has the potential to spread and cause for trouble for the republicans at their convention in tampa next week. after visiting the obama lawye s s headquarters in chicago, mischief of their own. todd akin's refusal to drop out of the missouri senate race has given democrats an opening to talk about abortion when mitt romney would rather focus on the economy. >> do you guys see missouri being more in play now because of todd akin? >> we certainly think that the decision that mitt romney and the republican party have had about women's issues over the course of the past year sounds like something you would have heard in the 1950s. >> reporter: inside obama re-election headquarters in chicago, campaign aides are not

only pointing to a cakin's init comments -- >> it's it a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that down. >> reporter: also king's comments to kmeg, which reported he questioned whether victims of statutory rape could become pregnant. >> i just haven't heard of that being a circumstance brought to me in any personal way. >> reporter: king released a statement saying his words were being twisted adding, quote, i never said, nor do i believe, a woman, including minors cannot get pregnant from rape, statutory rape or incest. suggesting otherwise is shameful, disgusting and nothing but an attempt to falsely define who i am. antiabortion advocate wilky raised this issue, when he wrote, quote, upset her possibility of ovulation, fertilization, implantation, and even nurturing of pregnancy.

>> our respect for human life. well done. >> reporter: down in tampa where republicans will hold their convention next week, the party approved language in its platform that calls for abortion to be banned outright, even in cases of rape and incest. >> romney and ryan back proposals to outlaw abortion. >> reporter: this obama campaign ad blames romney of holding the same view, business romney aides say that is false, saying the contender supports exceptions in the case of rape, incest and the life of the mother. romney's running mate, paul ryan, steered clear of the issue at a rally in pennsylvania but did talk about in his religion in going after the president. >> remember this other time, where he was caught on video saying, people like to cling to their guns and their religion. hey, i'm a catholic deer hunter. i am happy to be clinging to my guns and my religion. >> reporter: the obama campaign says ryan will have some vice presidential company next week in joe biden. >> isn't that a bit much to send

the vice president to the challenger's convention? >> well, he's not attending the convention, itself. he'll be holding an event in tampa, but i think you'll be hearing certainly from people who are very familiar with mitt romney's record and not going to let some hollywood producer come in and try to brush over the facts next week. >> now, earlier this afternoon, mitt romney released a statement calling on todd akin to exit this race out in missouri. wolf, you recall yesterday romney declined to do that. i talked to a top romney campaign source who told me romney was just simply trying to give todd akin some time, quote, to do the right thing and apparently in the eyes of the romney campaign, he didn't. >> will paul ryan head to charlotte the following week during the democratic convention? >> that is a very good question, wolf. i would wager a guess that that might be in the works given what joe biden's schedule is shaping up. but i had a chance to talk to

some obama campaign aides about all of this earlier today. they said not just joe biden will be down there in tampa, but what they're calling a strong bench of surrogates also will be down in tampa as well, wolf. >> used to call them the truth squad. we'll see what happens in tampa next week, in charlotte the week after that. thanks very much, jim acosta. we're counting town ining down republican national convention, monday night, 7:00 p.m. eastern after "the situation room," i'll be in tampa heading up our coverage, joined by anderson cooper, erin burnett, john king, our expert analysts for coverage you won't find anywhere else, anywhere except cnn. you're going to be coming down there as well. we'll be watching you as well. brianna keilar sheer with the top stories. syrian rebels claim they're trying to get the assad regime's vice president out of the country, but "cnn international's" jim clancy reports, no one knows for certain where farouk al sharaa is or even if he's actually

defected. >> farouk al sharaa for years was the face of the syrian regime under bashar al assad's father. the face of the regime to the world. he represented them in the madrid peace talks after the first gulf war. he's a very major figure in this government. now, we know he had a bit of a falling out with the government. he may want to leave. let's be very clear here. leaving the syrian government, leaving bashar al assad is not the same thing as joining forces with the opposition. we're going to have to wait and see on this one. meanwhile, syrian opposition groups report 183 people were killed today in civil war violence. the plane assigned to america's top military officer was hit by shrapnel from a rocket grenade in afghanistan at the bagram air field. the plane was on the tarmac. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff was on base at the time, he was not hurt, but two base personnel were slightly

injured. state troope erers say none the five children killed in this crash was wearing a seat belt. the victims age 2 to 13 years old were among a dozen people packed into this suv when it blew a tire and crashed on interstate 20 near canton, texas. the driver who was not injured could face negligent homicide charges. and new clean air rules go too far according to a federal appeals court. it struck down the environmental protection agency's so-called good neighbor policy which seeks to stop unhealthy levels of emissions blowing from one state to another. the decision is a blow for the obama administration and for environmental groups. and so what happens now, wolf, is the rules will revert back to less stringent rules written under the bush administration until new rules can be written. >> you're our white house correspondent. i was sort of surprised the vice president, himself, others going down to tampa to be on hand during the republican convention, not a surprise, of course. republicans will go to charlotte during the democratic event. the vice president is going to

make an appearance in tampa during the convention. did that surprise you? >> you know, it did surprise me a little bit. i think you're seeing bracketing at its jut moutmost. we're going to see that in tampa, but payback, right, in charlotte, i'm sure. >> a little more than two months away until november. >> it's coming up. you've probably seen the romney campaign. the ad says the president wants to, quote, end welfare as we know it, but the president says this. >> every single person here who's looked at it says it's patently false. >> president obama quietly announced a plan. >> still the republicans are doubling down at the convention. our eye opening fact check. that's coming up next. plus, the scene of the scandal. cnn travels to the sea of galilee in israel, where gop congressman got into trouble for late night misbehavior including skinny dipping. and later, a massive train derailment. two teenage girls and the mystery surrounding their bizarre deaths.

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the romney campaign is hammering president obama on welfare with another ad accusing him of stripping the requirement from welfare reform. a talking point at next week's republican convention in tampa. but is it true? cnn's tom foreman is here, he's checking the facts for us. it's causing a big stir out there. what are you finding out? >> you know what i'm finding, wolf, what we're finding on both sides of this race an awful lot these days, a lot of folks playing it very fast and loose with the truth. >> join me as i sign the welfare reform bill. >> reporter: welfare reform was a big bipartisan success story in the mid 1990s. signed by bill clinton, it fulfilled promises by the democratic president and the republican congress to push welfare recipients to work in exchange for their benefits.

to end welfare as we know it. so the idea of another democratic president, barack obama, taking the work requirement off of the table is political dynamite. right? >> on july 12th, president obama quietly ended the work requirement. gutting welfare reform. one of the most respected newspapers in america called it nuts. >> reporter: the problem is president obama calls this claim nuts. >> every single person here who's looked at it says it's patently false. >> reporter: so where did this come from, this notion of a giant change in welfare rules? oddly enough, it did not originate here in washington but rather out in the country. several states including some with republican governors asked the federal government for more flexibility in how they hand out welfare dollars. specifically they want to spend less time on federal paperwork and more time experimenting with what they hope will be better ways of getting people connected to jobs.

so the administration has granted waivers from some of the existing rules. >> giving them, those states, some flexibility in how they manage their welfare rules as long as it produced 20% increases in the number of people who are getting work. >> reporter: that might, in a small way, change precisely how work is calculated. but the essential goal of pushing welfare recipients to work remains in place. and that is fundamentally why some republicans are even backing away from the claims in these ads. to put it quite simply, the claims by mitt romney here don't work. we have found them to be false. and so have many other agencies that have looked at this matter. nonetheless, wolf, it looks like as you said, the republicans are going to continue fupushing ahe with the claims of welfare reform, though as the president pointed out, many agencies

looked at it and said this isn't true. >> when the president said yesterday saying five governors including republican governors asked for the flexibility. this is what the letter new mexico's governor brian sandival wrote to the department of health and human services, saying he has been very supportive of the concept of collaborative efforts among nevada's blah, blah, blah. he wants that flexibility. utah's republican governor gary herbert had his staff write a similar letter, we're interested in being of assistance, in the work of providing flexibility in and among funding resources for more effective outcomes. both of those letters written august 1st and august 2nd, 2001. the president is right when he says the republican governors, themselves, asked precisely for this kind of flexibility. >> and he's right when he says that the romney campaign, for saying that this is gutting welfare, the work requirement, it's just not true. that's not the case. >> i wish i had your job at the white house when president clinton signed this welfare reform in the '90s.

i remember it well. he got into trouble with liberal democrats who didn't like it at the time including barack obama who was a young legislator who didn't like it. he signed it into ad. >> they're not running them unless they think they're working. we're asking if the ads are having an impact ahead. we're standing by with new poll numbers on the race for the white house. and we have details on hurricane con tin swrtingency p that's right, for the republican national convention. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. covering 2,000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. at&t. rethink possible. covering 2,000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to

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quick correction. brian sandoval is nevada's republican governor, not new mexico's republican governor. he's a republican governor who asked last year for the president to give flexibility in i implementing welfare reform. welfare law. i want to correct that. >> very good, wolf. even you make a mistake sometimes. a look now at some of the stories trending right now on cnn.com. the late night tv talk show battle is heating up. starting in january abc will move comedian jimmy kimmel up an hour to 11:35 going head to head with jay leno and david letterman and "nightline" will move to 12:35. british director tony scott's apparent suicide remains a mystery, with family and medical investigators disputing a report that he was suffering from inoperable brain cancer. the "top gun" and "beverly hills

cop 2" director jumped off a california bridge sunday. swimmer diana nyad ended her h 60 hour attempt to swim from cuba to florida after severe jellyfish stings and a lightning storm put her off course. she spoke with our own dr. sanjay gupta by phone. >> i'm so proud of all the resources we but into this exhibition. an incredible formation of shark divers, jellyfish experts, through navigation, the whole thing, and still we're in this big ocean and one little wisp of air, you know, can get you, it's just, you know, at some point i have to -- and tropical storm isaac is forecast to make landfall as a category 1 hurricane near haiti on friday. cuba, saturday. isaac's track from there is uncertain, but with thousands headed for the republican convention in tampa next week, there is heightened interest in

its path. so the question is, would they change the location? would they change a day? i called someone at the convention, and i was told there is a contingency plan but they wouldn't tell me what it was. >> i'm going there myself to tampa in a few days. i hope that hurricane stays far, far away. >> take your rain slicker. >> i'll take -- i'll take whatever. we're standing by to hear from the vice president of the united states. you see him over there. he's in minnesota today. he's getting ready to speak to a crowd. i want to hear what he has to say. earlier in "the situation room" we heard from paul ryan. now it's joe biden's turn to speak to the crowd there. stand by. we'll have live coverage of that and a lot more. that's coming up. you do what y. because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create.

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the deadline has come and gone for the missouri republican congressman todd akin to easily pull out of his senate race. as just about every republican leader is urging him to do in the wake of his controversial remarks about abortion and what he called, quote, legitimate rape. now, akin would have to go to court to get off ballot which even mitt romney wants him to do, saying, and i'm quoting him now, today his fellow missourians urged him to step aside and i think he should accept their counsel and exit the senate race. but akin is refusing. >> what we're seeing right now is a tremendous outpouring of support from a whole lot of just regular small people. we believe that by taking this

stand that this is going to strengthen our country. it's going to strengthen ultimately the republican party and i believe we can win this. >> all right. let's talk a little bit about this with our chief national correspondent john king, and our senior congressional correspondent dana bash. we're also, by the way, monitoring the vice president, joe biden, in minnesota. i'm going to go there as soon as he gets into some of the meat of what he's having to say. john, let me start with you. what do you think? it's now come and gone. the deadline, the easy deadline for him to get out. every major republican wants him out. he's staying in. what's the impact? >> the paymeimpact, you have a e race, you have an angry republican establishment, you had the chairman of the republican committee saying not a penny is going to go into missouri. you've had other groups say they won't send any money in there. you have a man, whose stubborn pride, his ego, call it what he will, saying he's going to stay in the race. i talked to a person prominent

in the area, he said several christian conservative leaders reached out. i said, was there anybody he would listen to? the answer, no. >> hold your thoughts, everybody. i want to go to minnesota. the vice president is speaking. let's listen in. >> folks, where i come from, there's nothing gutsy about giving millionaires another tax break. there's nothing bold, there's nothing bold about cutting medicare and education and research and development to pay for those tax cuts. and there sure in heck is nothing new about their plan. not only is it not new, it's not fair, it's not right, and the people who are going to pay the price for this plan were they to win are the working poor and the middle class. that's who's going to pay the price for their plan. and there's overwhelming evidence that their plan will not grow the economy. why do we know that? it didn't grow before. it won't grow it now. folks, we've seen this movie

before. we've seen this movie before. and we know, we know how the movie ends. it ends in a great recession of 2008. that was a catastrophe. this is not hiyperbolhyperbole. the middle class was eviscera eviscerated, lost $17 billion in the value they had in their homes, their 401(k)s. the things they decided, you all, coming from neighbors like mine, where you relied on that. that was going to help you retire, that equity in your home. it was going to help you borrow to send your kids to college. look, folks, we can't go back to those days. we have to move forward. ladies and gentlemen, the president and i, we have a different way forward. we know the history of the journey of this country. we also know from own experience

that you don't grow the economy from millionaires down. you grow it from the middle out. ladies and gentlemen, the middle class is doing well. the poor have a way up. and wealthy do very, very well, thank you. everyone does well. folks, what this is all about, it gets down to a fundamental simple proposition. it's all about every american having an opportunity to have a decent standard of living. a good job that you can raise a family on. where hard work is rewarded and responsibility is expected. you know, my dad used to have an expression, and i mean this sincerely, from the time i was a kid. he'd say, joey, a job's about a lot more than a paycheck. it's about your dignity. it's about your sense of who you are. it's about your ability to provide for your family. it's about your role in the

community. and, folks, from where i come from, people have simply been stripped, hardworking americans, through no fault of their and, have been stripped of their dignity, and the millions more who have jobs are living with stagnant wages and have found it increasingly more difficult to care for their families. ladies and gentlemen, a lot of you know folks who made what i call the longest walk. the longest walk a man and woman can make is up a short flight of stairs to their child's bedroom to say, honey, i'm sorry, but you can't go back to -- you can't go back to st. mary's, you can't go back to roosevelt high school, you can't go back, you can't sing in the choir, baby. daddy lost his job. mommy lost her job. the bank, honey, says we can't live here anymore. my dad made that walk when i was going from fourth grade, or third grade to fourth grade. and we were living in my

grandpa's house at the time. things were a little tough in scranton, pennsylvania, at the time in the mid '50s. i remember him sitting on the bed telling me, honey, there are good jobs are uncle frank is in wilmingt wilmington, delaware. i'll be gone for a year. it's only 157 miles but i'll try to come home every weekend. i thought, my god, 157 miles, speaking of mars, i thought that was mars. i thought that's how far away it was. i wasn't frightened by it. i was disappointed by it. my dad had absolute confidence. absolute confidence. he had another shot that it would work. it wasn't until i got to be in my 20s i realized my father who was a proud, graceful man, made an even longer walk. he made a walk into my grandfather's pantry with my mom's grown brothers and said, ambro is, i need a favor. can you take care of -- can you take care of jean and the kids

for about a year? i promise, i promise i'll pay you back. you know people have made that walk. you know people have had to do that. you know people as recently as this past spring who were sitting down at the kitchen table, husband and wife saying, how are we going to tell mary she can't go back to university, we just don't have the money? we just can't do it. how many people you know that are going to bed tonight that will stare at the ceiling, literally wondering whether or not they're going to be able to live in that house three months from now. whether everything's going to be okay. ladies and gentlemen, too many people have been hurt. when president and i came to office, we were determined, determined to restore the dignity and pride of the middle class. to provide them with the ability to care for their families. to be able to turn, as my dad used to say, be able to turn to your kid and say, honey, it's going to be okay. whatever it is, it's going to be

okay. and believe when you say it that it really is going to be okay. well, folks, things are beginning to change, thank god, because of the leadership of president obama. over 4.5 million people, today, since we've come in, have made a different walk. they've walked from a new high-tech manufacturing plant to their car in the parking lot and were able to go home and say, proudly, i'm making a product that the whole rest of the world wants to buy again. >> all right. so the vice president of the united states is speaking to his supporters out in minnesota. you see senator al franken there sitting behind him. we're going to on the to monitor his remarks. but even as we listen to the vice president, i want to share with our viewers right now some new poll numbers, national poll numbers, brianna, that are just coming into "the situation room." this is an nbc/"wall street journal" poll. among registered voters, president obama nationally 48%, mitt romney 44%.

quickly, john king, these are consistent with numbers, doesn't show much of a bounceryan, does it? >> it shows you essentially a statistical tie. which tells you the period we're going into it. first the republican convention, then the democratic convention. critical to both candidates in both parties. then you move into debate season and beyond into the stretch. the president, the gender gap, we talk about the todd akin story, republican platform discussion. 51% to 41%, president obama leading governor romney among women. however, among seniors, democrats trying to make a big play on the medicare argument. governor romney continues to lead there 49% to 41%. that's not as big as league as george w. bush had. john mccain won among seniors last time. governor romney needs to keep an eye on those numbers. look deep into it, it tells you you have a very, very competitive race heading into the stretch. >> the ten-point lead the n

nbc/"wall street journal" poll, how does the debate of todd akin play into that? obviously it's not a positive for mitt romney. >> not in the least. this debate is toxic, so terrible for republicans. that's why they know it is. this gender gap existed before and it is something democrats are hoping to drive further and further away. a wider gap. and republicans are very, very worried an that, particularly for women in some of the key states, in some of the key areas in the key states where they have to have to win. >> and finally, why is he so stubborn? i mean, you cover the hill. why is he so stubborn? >> look, i mean, he is known to be a loner. he marches to the beat of his own drum. and he also knows full well that the republican leadership never, ever wanted him to get the nomination in the first place. they knew that he was going to be out of the field of possibilities, those on the ballot, that he was probably the least likely to win against claire mccaskill. the most likely to put his foot in his mouth as he did now. in fact, i was told they went to him when he won privately and said, look, you're going to be

out of the national spotlight, you're going to have to watch what you say, and it didn't happen. one other interesting note you were talking about earlier about the fact that he -- religious leaders were asked to go to him. i was told, this is not meant to be disrespectful, not tongue in cheek, but somebody said no matter who goes to him in the republican party, he's not going to listen to anybody unless god tells him to. he's literally a god-fearing man. it's a spiritual journey for him. >> we're watching what's happening in missouri, what's happening out in the campaign. stand by, guys. a lot more news coming up including the late st on a congressman's naked swim in the sea of galilee. we're going to take you to the sea of galilee, where the skinning dipping took place. stay with us. [ female announcer ] these are the crescents you love on a holiday. and these are the ones you'll love on a school night.

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we're learning new details about the skinning dipping scandal involving a united states congressman during an official trip to israel. cnn shows us now where it all happened. >> reporter: wolf, it was supposed to be a fact finding mission that brought kevin yoder and a group of republican congressmen to israel this time last year. so we've come to the town of tiberius on the sea of galilee to find out what facts we can about a sin skinny dipping epis one infamous night. it's hot in these hills in august, so hot people like to take their chairs into the water to cool down. naked bathing, though? not around here. the sea of galilee is after all where christians believe jesus walked on water. fed the 5,000. nudism, no way. >> people respect this because

of its religious sensitivity. for the christian, for the jewish. no, nobody swims there naked, really. i swear. >> reporter: yet, republican congressman kevin yoder admits he did just that. our line of inquiry based on politico's reporting which broke the story, has brought us to the dex restaurant where apparently around half the group of 30 u.s. lawmakers took the plunge. all the indications are that this is where it happened. it a deck that perfect for a large group. imagine the scene. it's late on a balmy night in august. you've had a huge meal. possibly a little bit to drink. and the waiter suggests diving into the sea of galilee. he opens this gate and really what could be more inviting? the owner says she doesn't remember that particular group, but that a late-night swim here is par for the course.

>> sit back, enjoy a beautiful dinner, great lamb chops, and then you just jump to the water because it's -- it's a part of the experience. >> reporter: in a statement, yoder apologized for his actions. writing, regrettably, i jumped into the water without a swimsuit. we asked a nearby swimmer whether he'd heard of the congressman's antics. >> translator: did he survive in yes. that's good. because the sea of galilee was much lower last year. >> reporter: a late-night transgression, though, thinks the reason why the story's making waves now is a lot more unsavory. >> somebody's trying to use this as a weapon to hurt the republicans who are so devoted to us, to israel. >> reporter: israel is none too happy to be caught up in other people's politics. the sea of galilee, wolf,

obviously a very beautiful place, a very spiritual place for a lot of christians. i only have one regret and that is that i didn't bring my swimming costume. wolf? >> good for you, diana magnay at the sea of galilegalilee. buried under tons of coal. new details on the maryland train derailment that killed two teenage girls. but he had purina cat chow indoor. he absolutely loved it. and i knew he was getting everything he needed to stay healthy indoors. and after a couple of weeks, i knew we were finally home! [ female announcer ] purina cat chow indoor. and for a delicious way to help maintain a healthy weight, try new purina cat chow healthy weight. in your car. now count the number of buttons on your tablet. isn't it time the automobile advanced? introducing cue in the all-new cadillac xts.

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two young women in the wrong place at the wrong time killed by a train derailment that buried them under tons of coal. now to brian todd who is at the scene in ellicott city. >> you can see the crews sifting

there tu mounds of coal that was dumbed from the train. one of the cars there is upside down and they are trying to get it right side up to bring it on the track behind me. investigators are sifting through the wreckage and talking to victims to try the determine the cause of accident that resulted in the death of two young women. >> reporter: as they sift through mangled freight cars and coal, investigators offer some theories burk nt not the real c of what might have caused this deadly train derailment. it was going through maryland at 25 miles per hour, and then something caused the train to jump the track, and then the accident. >> the hoses were separated causing an emergency break application. >> reporter: the residents heard the sound of 20 cars on their side. >> it was screeching and it did not sound normal and i remember thinking, that sounds like it is derailing.

>> reporter: the operator of the train did not remember seeing or fe feeling anything before the emergency brakes came on automatly cli and the police say that the two women killed, 19-year-old rising college juniors were sitting on the edge of the bridge with their backs to the train feet away when it passed. when the train skipped the tracks, police say, open cars tipped over burying the women in coal. friendis that this photo was tweeted by rose meyer shortly before the crash, the caption "levitating" and this one showing ellicot bridge before the city, and said looking down on old ec. and this one was a tweet of elizabeth nass saying drink on top of old rose. and we are told that at least one person a year dice from being too close to train tracks.

is this type of thing dangerous? >> when you come to the end of sum me, young people may be challenged by their friends or even challenge themselves to do something different from what they have done earlier in the summer. >> reporter: again, investigators cannot say at the moment what caused this train to derail. what specifically caused it derail, but they will be reviewing the audio and videotapes on board the try to make that determination. brianna. >> brian todd for us. thank you for that. urney junior mints movie phone evil prince bollywood 3d shark attack ned the head 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback on movies through september. it pays to discover. it's something you're born with. and inspires the things you choose to do.

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product rollout. >> it is advertising or a newspaper? >> yes, but you are supposed to look at it first. imagine you are stuck in a restroom in a restaurant or bar and imagine nothing more than underground printing or peta pit. jordan dreamed thup idea while at the university of michigan. >> i found myself sitting in the bathroom at the library bored and reading my phone and the graffiti on the walls. >> reporter: there star toilet paper wiz born. >> it is a two-ply business m model. >> reporter: the second fly is that they get advertisers the privilege to pay on the roll here. and now the advertisers pay half a cent per ad or per star toilet paper they say. but it is a different

impression. >> the average ad is seen 2 to 5 second seconds, but one of ours is seen from 1 to 10 minutes depending upon what you had for dinner last night. >> reporter: and bryan silverman is now named entrepreneur magazine's favorite idea of the year. >> if i were in the bathroom and drunk, i would be remember that. >> would you remember the ad? >> no. >> reporter: less you become think of ink stained. >> it is soybean-based and because it is, it will not run on your body. >> reporter: and advertisers like smoothie king say it is too soon to know how effective it s. >> i will think about using it. it is too nice to use. it is almost like art. art for your butt. >> reporter: they have big plans to supply the toilet paper ads to malls and stadiums. the star toilet paper brothers are going to cleanup. they have plans for scanning